JOIN USThe Gujarat Congress chief has accused Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani of “misappropriating” funds allotted to her under Members of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme.
In a series of messages on social media, state Congress president Amit Chavda has claimed that Smriti had committed financial irregularities in spending of funds in her adopted Maghrol village of Anand district under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. Smriti, a Rajya Sabha member from the state, had adopted this village under the scheme for Parliamentarians.
“Smriti Irani adopted Maghrol in Anand district to make it a model village and she did a stupendous job of making it a model for the corruption and blatant misuse of power. She misappropriated fund received under her MPLAD scheme,” he said.
Chavda went on to allege that Smriti illegally used her MPLAD fund in violation of the guidelines for their use. Smriti and her staff coerced officials into awarding contracts to Sharda Majoor Kamdar Sahkari Mandli. Chavda goes on to call him a “proxy” for the minister.
Chavda claimed that the allocation of a contract to the cooperative was in violation of the prescribed norms as a contract of more than Rs 50 lakh cannot be awarded to a particular group under the MPLAD scheme.
“This cooperative got work contracts worth many times above prescribed limit. During an inspection in the month of June 2017, it had also come to fore that work was not up to the mark. And also there was a discrepancy between the estimates and the actual cost. Also, even though in many cases projects were never completed, but full money was paid to this shady cooperative and money kept flowing to them. I had filed a PIL in the Gujarat High Court in July 2017 and had brought this gross misappropriation of power and funds to the light.”
He also uploaded a picture of the district collector’s order asking Sharda Majoor Kamdar Sahkari Mandali to return the money with interest. “Today I am happy to note that Anand District collector has issued order to the @SmritiIrani’s proxy, Sharda Majoor Kamdar Sahkari Mandli to repay Rs 4.8 cr at the earliest with 18% annual interest! Satyamev Jayate!”